Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site | 10th Anniversary 2007-2017

First State National Historical Park |

• • • New Castle Court House
    • The Green – New Castle

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site | South Dakota

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park | Camp Sherman

Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area |

• • • Alton, IL
    • Atlanta, IL
    • Beardstown, IL
    • Bloomington, IL
    • Danville, IL
    • Decatur, IL
    • Jacksonville, IL
    • Lerna, IL
    • Lincoln, IL
    • Mt. Pulaski, IL
    • Nauvoo, IL
    • Pittsfield, IL
    • Quincy, IL
    • Shelbyville, IL
    • Taylorville, IL

Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area |

• • • Bryants Grocery
    • Fort Pemberton
    • Museum of the Mississippi Delta
    • Robert Johnson Gravesite

California National Historic Trail | Hollenberg Pony Express Station SHS
Oregon National Historic Trail | Hollenberg Pony Express Station SHS
Pony Express National Historic Trail | Hollenberg Pony Express Station SHS

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site may only be ten years old in 2017, but this is already their second anniversary stamp.  In 2014, they had a stamp commemorating the 150th Anniversary of  the massacre of a camp of Cheyenne Indians by Colorado soldiers in 1864.  This park immediately retired that 150th Anniversary stamp as soon as the calendar turned to 2015, so if you want to collect this anniversary cancellation, you’ll probably need to trek out to eastern Colorado before the year is out.

For First State National Historical Park, the New Castle Courthouse stamp is simply a replacement for the existing stamp reading “New Castle, DE” on the bottom.   The New Castle Courthouse is where Delaware seceded from Great Britain in 1775, and is also the baseline for Delaware’s curved border with Pennsylvania, which is 12 miles from the courthouse.  The other stamp is for the New Castle Green and will be located at the New Castle Historical Society’s Visitor Center in The Arsenal.   A great summary of the history of New Castle Green can be found in this blog post from the official Delaware State Government blog.  This new addition for New Castle Green gives First State NHP a total of 8 active cancellations.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site previously replaced its existing stamp reading “South Dakota” on the bottom in February 2015 with one reading “Visitor Center” on the bottom.   This one takes things back to where they were previously, restoring “South Dakota” as the main stamp for this Park.   Personally, I tend to dislike cancellations that read “visitor center” on the bottom, so this is a welcome change.

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in south-central Ohio was officially established to interpret the archeological remains of a 2,000-year-old Indian civilization that archeologists refer to as “the Hopewell Culture,” since they did not leave behind a written language recording their own name for themselves.   However, 100 years ago, part of the land that is now the national park was included in the then newly-designated Camp Sherman to gather and train US troops for the war effort.   This new cancellation is timely, as it coincides with the 100th Anniversary of the U.S. entering the first World War in 1917, and with Hopewell Culture National Historical Park stepping up its interpretation of the small role it played in the First World War.

The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, which is run by the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, covers some 40 counties in central Illinois.  Previously, this Heritage Area had only a single cancellation, for the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, IL.    These 15 additional cancellations cover the heritage area’s official gateway cities of Alton, Bloomington, Danville, and Quincy.    These cancellations also cover several other partner sites, including the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site in Lerna, where Lincoln’s father and stepmother lived once he was a grown man in Springfield.  Also included are several sites associated with Lincoln practicing law, including those in Mt. Pualski, Pittsfield, and Taylorville.  The remainder of the sites appear to be primarily associated with more-general history and visitation of the area, the most notable of which is the Joseph Smith Historic Site in Nauvoo, which is also the starting point for the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.

The Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area has been steadily adding stamps since joining the Passport Program in November 2014.  You can find the Parkasaurus write-up for all the previous additions here.  Particularly notable this month is the addition of a stamp for Bryant’s Grocery.  In August 1955, a 14-year-old teenager from Chicago named Emmett Till was visiting his family in the small town of Money, Mississippi.  On that trip, an incident with a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, at Bryant’s Grocery, led to Till being murdered by Ms. Bryant’s husband, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, John W. Milam.  Despite ample evidence, Bryant and Milam were acquitted by the all-white jury after a little more than an hour of deliberations.  You can read more details on the events of the case in this account from famous-trials.com.

The other three stamps for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area this month can all be found in the town of Greenwood, Mississippi, which is just 17 miles to the south of Money.  Fort Pemberton was the site of a minor Confederate victory as part of the Vicksburg campaign.   The Museum of the Mississippi Delta comprehensively covers the human and natural history of the region.  Robert Johnson was a renowned blues artist, and the most-likely site of his burial is Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Money Road in Greenwood.

Finally, the Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site is located just east of the town of Hanover in northern Kansas.  The ranch was founded by Gerat Hollenberg in 1857 as a trading post on the Oregon and California Emigrant Trails.  By 1860 it became an official station on the Pony Express, and is one of the few remaining original Pony Express stations.

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